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2013 Opel Adam: Paris 2012

With the price premium of electric vehicles still high, Opel is reportedly holding off on development of the Adam EV to avoid giving customers sticker shock. According to Automotive News Europe, Opel was working on an electric version of the Adam minicar that was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, but the price the automaker would have had to charge for the final product was apparently too high to reasonably ask for from customers.

Let's face it, even when they go well, partnerships rarely go as planned. Almost eight months after General Motors spent $423 million to snag seven percent of Peugeot, we on the outside are still wondering what the plan is. When the tie-up was announced, the main benefits were listed as purchasing power and platform sharing, and only a month after that, a deeper collaboration was discussed that would involve development of a dual-clutch transmission and a small car for Latin America.

Opel's bottom line suffers from a medical condition called "hemorrhaging" and investment bank Morgan Stanley isn't alone in believing that General Motors should let the German brand go. But they haven't seen the Opel Adam. The diminutive hatch that can come off as a little bulbous up front and busy all over depending on the angle of the photo has a welcoming presence in person. Of course, it's too much to ask that this one petite runabout reverse the fortunes of a company on the wrong side of pr